Kingdom Rush: Chronicles - Patch Notes

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Kingdom Rush: Chronicles - Patch Notes

by RaZoR LeAf » Sun Jan 17, 2021 12:03 am

I've decided to share all of my unused and unreleased content that I had for my campaign Kingdom Rush Chronicles. I put a lot of time and effort into making that campaign, and I feel particularly let down that the forum as a whole died before I finished it, considering how much interest there was in it. After the forum died, and the harassment I received on the wiki I lost a great deal of interest in Kingdom Rush, and frankly I don't know if I will ever get it back like I used to.

Never the less, I wanted to share all of this with the few people that might still be active here. Then I can put it all on a hard drive and clear it off my computer.


Plot Points and Lore

The biggest plot point that went unresolved is the one that was hinted at twice in the original thread.

RaZoR LeAf wrote:Without giving too much away, this story is very focused on time.


RaZoR LeAf wrote:There is no post credit comic, instead you are redirected back to the map screen. At the marker for Level Fifteen you will find two portals, one on either side of the marker. Tapping on one gives you a choice: Backwards or Forwards? Whichever you choose, the other will be locked out. For the sake of story continuity, you choose BACKWARDS.


Time Travel Plot
[+] SPOILER
The Dwarf culture is built around an object that has been passed down each generation, the Hammer of Ages. It is a mighty weapon said to have been wielded by the founder of the city, to destroy a ferocious demon that once inhabited the mountain. The hammer is said to posses a powerful magic that transcends time itself. The hammer is stolen by a shadowy figure, who uses the Serpent resurgence as cover for its escape.

Chasing the shadowy man across the land, the dwarves finally corner it in the hollowed out pit where a meteor once struck the earth. Upon his defeat, they learn he was intending to use the magic of the hammer to go back in time and stop his master from being defeated (tie in to Umbra vs Elynie war). Though the shadow man is destroyed, the hammer tears a hole in time and the dwarves are drawn back into the past, whilst the Hawcara and Atlantaen's are thrown into the distant future, thousands of years after the rise and fall of Vez'nan.

The dwarves, alone and in the past, struggle to make their way to the mountain through a familiar but altered terrain. They identify a unique energy that is being produced by the meteor, and use chunks of it to craft a magic generating machine to replace the hawcaran magics they have lost. They begin to climb the mountain to their future home, but find it full of lava and infested with strange fire like creatures. They make an unexpected group of allies, a band of dwarves who have travelled from afar (including Rygost the builder). They help these dwarves reach the heart of the mountain, where, armed with the Hammer of Ages the demon king of the mountain is defeated and the volcano cools, allowing the dwarves to move in.

The Dwarves of the present determine that the hammer was made of the meteor, and that it crashing drew them into the past like a magnet. They sacrifice the meteor chunks they have been using to create magic, and give them to the dwarves of the past, who use them to forge the Hammer of Ages for the first time.

The present dwarves use the hammer to return back to their own time, where they declare that the power should be kept secret, and far away where it cannot be used. A band of dwarves declare they will travel to the south, to set up a home in the snow and frost covered mountains below the Varadul wastes, and they will in turn find somewhere for the hammer to rest.

The dwarves eventually bury the hammer in the wastelands, where it is found in an archaeological dig and taken to the Hammerhold museum. It will be stolen by Malagar in order to reattempt and succeed in freeing Umbra.




The boss of the Present; Hydrakus; was the sole survivor of the Dwarves attack on the Volcano Dragon God in the Past. The boss would release it's own Hydrakin which over thousands of years one evolved into Hydrakus. That's why it stole the hammer, so it could go back in time and stop the Dwarves. Unbeknownst to him, he was part of a time loop that would see the Hammer being made in the first place.

The entire story of the Hammer of Ages is based on a bootstrap paradox.
The Bootstrap Paradox is a theoretical paradox of time travel that occurs when an object or piece of information sent back in time becomes trapped within an infinite cause-effect loop in which the item no longer has a discernible point of origin, and is said to be “uncaused” or “self-created”.


Image



The Present (Post-Campaign)


Levels

Serpent Elite
2 levels
2nd level boss Jormagund, parts of body make up the level. Armoured other than head and spots on body, boss takes up entire path as it slithers towards the exit.

The Snake Pit
[+] SPOILER
Image



Deep Devil Elite
Battle goes UNDERWATER
Completely submerged towers are encased in a bubble allowing them to attack, bt level mechanic can pop bubble temporarily stunning the towers or stalling units.

Boss, something wet from Norse mythology?

Sunken pirate ship, Rusted Anchor mini-tower for undead pirate allies.

Skeleton/Ghost pirate mini-hero

Underwater volcano in DDevil temple

Under the Sea
[+] SPOILER
Image



Shipwreak Cove
[+] SPOILER
Image




Jotun Elite
Utgard, the stronghold of the giants. Boss Ymir, crashes through fortress walls revealing more entry paths. Squarish level.


Enemies

[+] SPOILER
Serpents

Paradisi
[Serpent]
"It leaps from high ledges and glides silently towards its prey, striking as it lands."
HP:
Damage:
Armour rating: Low
Magic resistance: Low
Speed: Fast
Gold: 75
Lives taken: 2

- Flying

Based on the same species as the flying snake (Chrysopelea), Paradisi is the name of the species rather than the genus. In any case, their abilities are similar, but whilst Krisopelea is always in flight, Paradisi is only in flight for a set period. It rarely spawns from an entrance, instead it appears from the tops of the screen, or from high ledges, and descends upon the path, in a long glide. It doesn't follow the path, instead it has a landing point and moves in a direct A to B line from its emergence, to destination. It moves very fast whilst in flight and on land.

Electreel
[Serpent]
"Water swelling serpents that can hold a powerful charge. Alone they are weak, but they travel in schools to do more damage."
HP:
Damage:
Armour rating: None
Magic resistance: Medium
Speed: Medium
Gold: 28
Lives taken: 1

- Submerged: Wider field
- Electrical field
- School amplification

Hoo boy, this is a nasty snake. Technically a fish, but it fits better as a Serpent, the Electreel generates an electric field around itself which constantly drains the HP of anything within it. If it's engaged with a soldier, it will gradually whittle that HP down, but it;s only wide enough to harm one soldier at best (maybe two if submerged). The big problem lies in the school amplification. If there are more than two near each other, that field doubles in size and strength, draining HP twice as fast and over a greater area.


Gorgon
[Serpent]
"???"
HP:
Damage:
Armour rating:
Magic resistance:
Speed: Slow
Gold:
Lives taken:

- Petrifying Glare

The Gorgon is a medusa like serpent, a large snake like creature with a head of smaller snakes for hair. She is able to Petrify units, effectively insta-killing them, but also stunning them for 5 seconds. They will not begin a re-spawn charge until after the stun has worn off.

Jormund
[Serpent]
"Game description."
HP: 6500/8000/9500
Damage: 300-750
Armour rating: None
Magic resistance: None
Speed: Medium
Gold: 0
Lives taken:

- Boss
- Spawns ??

In Norse legend, Jörmungandr grew so big it surrounded the earth. Jormund is so big, that parts of its body make up the area, but until the final wave hits, you won't even know it.


Deep Devils

PUFFA
[Deep Devil]
"Game description."
HP:
Damage:
Armour rating:
Magic resistance:
Speed:
Gold:
Lives taken:

-
-

Based on Puffa Fish. Tank, area attack. Deadly poison


Emojelli
[Deep Devil]
"Game description."
HP:
Damage:
Armour rating: Varies
Magic resistance: Varies
Speed: Fast
Gold:
Lives taken: 2

- Submerged: 10% chance of changing form

The Emojelli has four different faces. At 50% HP it changes to a different face. It's always random what it starts with and changes too.
Happy: Immune to archers
Sad: Immune to magic
Angry: Immune to artillery
Sick: Immune to barracks


Irukandji
[Atlantean]
"Size isn't everything. These tiny jellyfish are so poisonous, you don't even have to touch one to get infected."
HP: 200
Damage: 3-5
Armour rating: Immune
Magic resistance: None
Speed: Fast
Gold: 4
Lives taken: 1

- Poisonous aura
- Immune to physical damage
- Submerged: Radius increases

Named after the most venomous jellyfish in the world, the Irukandji make up for being small and weak by appearing in massive numbers (much like Gloomies they will swarm over a path). They are also hugely poisonous, so much so that they don't need to make physical contact with troops to infect them, they just need to be near by. And this poison will sap unit HP in a split second. They're also immune to all physical damage, like ghosts.


Squidclops
[Deep Devil]
"A deadly one eyed cephalopod that spawns new units by infecting soldiers."
HP: 180 / 260 / 340
Damage: 20-30
Armour rating: None
Magic resistance: Medium
Speed: Medium
Gold: 2
Lives taken: 1

- Submerged: Moves faster

The squidclops attacks soldiers much like a Parasyte, disabling them and quickly whittling down their HP. Once they are defeated they turn into a soldier/squid hybrid and continue down the path. Squidlops are not consumed if they infect a soldier, they can continue on to infect more.


Squidhead
[Deep Devil]
"The poor result of a soldier infected with Squidlops spawn."
HP: 380 / 450 / 560
Damage: 40-70
Armour rating: None
Magic resistance: High
Speed: Slow
Gold:
Lives taken: 3

- Submerged: HP regenerates

A Squidhead only appears as a result of a successful Squidlops spawning. They have better magic resistance though slower, but will regenerate when submerged.


Heroes

No additional heroes were designed.

Towers

A tower of underwater pirate skeletons was conceptualised albeit very basically. It was later adapted fully into my Four Elements contest entry. This would have featured in the Elite Deep Devil levels, and can be seen in the maps as an Anchor strat-point.

Game Details

Customised Style Sets
[+] SPOILER
Once the Main Campaign has been five star completed (that's three on the Main Campaign, plus Heroic and Iron) you unlock the Customisation Feature. This allows you to make some aesthetic changes to the look of the game, and is designed to use up your otherwise untouched stars.

These changes are purely for the look of the game, and do not affect game play at all. Each feature has multiple options to choose from, and once you have unlocked the mode, the entire thing is available to you. The options to reset all/return to default is available, but you can also save up to five different sets to be reused at any time.


Effects

FireChanges fire from Yellow (Default) to Red, Green or Blue
ThunderChanges from Blue (default) to Yellow or White


Towers

Each tower can be selected individually, so you can have multiple styles in play for certain towers.

Ancient Towers Towers take on an ancient/rustic/worn effect.
Gothic Towers become dark and gothic, like they belong in a horror film
Atlantaen Towers take on the appearance of the aquatic city of the Atlantae mer-people


Units

Reinforcements have eight individual unit looks, in different character sets including the default. You can pick and choose however many you want, and they will appear randomly when you place them.

Star Wars Yoda, Vader, Chewbacca, Storm Trooper, Luke, Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren
Pokemon Mewtwo, Deoxys, Charizard, Lucario, Gardevoir, Gallade, Blaziken, Pikachu
Iron Marines

The following sets contain more than eight characters, but consist of a variety of units from previous Kingdom Rush games.

Kingdom RushFarmers, Soldiers, Knights, Imperial Knights, Paladins, Barbarians, Sylvan Elves, Orcs, Trolls, Dark Knights, Demon Lords
KR Frontiers


Unused Produce
[+] SPOILER
Ginger
Lilikoi
Kelp
Coffee
Taro
Cotton
Daikon
Tea
Rice
Nori
Pepper
Wormwood
Wolfsbane
Fig
Fanwort (Aquatic)
Cherry
Chilli
Garlic
Palm Fruit (tropical)
Sapote (tropical)
Sea Cucumber (aquatic)
Seaweed (aquatic)
Water Apple
Watermelon
Wheat
Tomato
Cocoa
Holly
Radish
Squash
Mushroom
Agave
Pineapple
Cactus
Vanilla
Chilli Pepper
Poinsettia
Durian
Pumpkin
Artichoke
Coral


The Past

Levels

The Crater
[+] SPOILER
Image

"...

..what happened? Where are we?

General... our allies are gone! The Hawcara and the Aquarians are nowhere to be found, and without them we have lost half our defences. This place looks so familiar, the feeling of deja-vu is overwhelming but until we can know for sure where we are, we should be on high alter. We don't know what dangers are lurking here!"


Level Two
[+] SPOILER
Image


Level Three
[+] SPOILER
Image



Enemies

As always, there would be three main enemy groups. For the past, where the land was scorched by fire and a lot wilder the three enemy groups were:

Troglodytes - Cave dwelling creatures that did not venture out into the light. They would be based on typical dark cave creatures like strange bugs, obscure animals, and some kind of proto-caveman.

Wild Things / Badder Bugs - A mixture of wild hunting creatures and overly big bugs. Some of the badder bugs would be adapted from the Song of the Fae campaign I created before Chronicles.

Fire Demons - As the journey led towards the volcano, then the creatures would become more elemental. These would not be demons as we recognised from Kingdom Rush. The name 'fire demons' was only a lace holder for when the enemies would actually be developed.

Bosses - There were no bosses designed for the first two areas, but the final boss would have been some kind of volcano dragon god, most likely a hydra. The boss would spawn its own unique enemies, called Hydrakin. This would then tie in to the storyline of the 'present' i.e. the first part of the game.

Heroes

I had no heroes partially written for the Past, but I had partially created ideas for a young Thor, a Saurian Mage called Saquara (who was crocodilian in appearance and would be later honoured by having a temple built of him in the jungles), and a crossover hero from another game studio; Whisper of Swords, a wasp armed with twin swords from the mobile game Best Fiends. Like the Twilight Elf heroes she was a Badder Bug who turned on her own kind.


Towers

The main towers I had designed were adapted into the towers I used for the Four Elements contest. However, I will post them here in their original format.


Archer I, II, III (Contest Version
[+] SPOILER
Tower Name Gatling Gun
Level I
Description A small silver gun mounted on a tripod with a wheel as a centre strut. One dwarf is holding the gun and moving it to face enemies, another stands at the side of it turning a crank that makes the bullets come out.
About Made from left over mining equipment, a hand crank operated gun that fires small pellets of rock.
Build Cost 70

Fire Rate Average
Damage 3-5
Range Average

Tower Name Maxim Gun
Level II
Description The silver gun is a little larger now, the dwarf moving it is standing on the shoulders of another dwarf, whilst two dwarves turn a crank on each side, twice as fast as before.
About Twice the hand cranks means more power,
Build Cost 110

Fire Rate Fast
Damage 5-8
Range Average


Tower Name Machine Gun
Level III
Description A larger gun again, this time there is no crank and the dwarf aiming it has controls himself. When the gun fires, it does so with such speed and ferocity that the dwarf can barely hold on and is flung into the air as the gun rapidly fires on its own.
About
Build Cost 160

Fire Rate Fast
Damage 9-12
Range Average

Spoken Quotes
"Fire at will!"
"Bullets rip to the sound of the beat."
"Fire all of your guns at once!"
""
""
""


T.A.R.G.E.T.
[+] SPOILER
IV: T.A.R.G.E.T. (Twin Automated Rotating Gun with Extended Trajectory)


Description A circular frame with a dwarf sat in the middle of the ring. At the sides of the dwarf are two large, six-barrel Gatling style guns. A pylon in the centre of the ring is connected to small gemstone batteries at the bottom which are constantly pumping energy into the entire unit.

When the tower attacks it does so as a burst of rapid fire in a conical range rather than single targeting. Enemies that are further away are more likely to have the damage of the tower spread amongst them as the attack spreads out over distance, whereas single enemies closer to the tower will bear the brunt of the damage as the attack is more focused. The tower attacks in short bursts, and needs to cool-down and reload in between rounds.

About Meteor powered, high velocity, rapid fire dual cannons. Its power is offset by its liability to miss.
Build Cost

Fire Rate Very Fast
Damage
Range Far (conical)​


Saurian Skull Splitter
[+] SPOILER
Tower Name Saurian Skullsplitters
Description What the tower looks like
About Skullsplitters throw light but strong shards of bone at the heads of both predator and prey to incapacitate them
Build Cost 280

Fire Rate Fast
Damage 35-65
Range Average

Impale

Written Description
Symbol A red piece of meat with several bones sticking put of it
Cost Per Upgrade

Written Quote The quote that accompanies the skill description

Explanation Each shot gains a 20/40/60% chance to stick in an enemy and slow them, and inflict 30d/5s of bleeding damage

Build Quotes
"Time to split some skulls!"
"Aim for the head!"


Mage I, II, III
[+] SPOILER
I : Gemstone Battery
Description
About "Fragments of a fallen star and dwarven engineering come together to forge a new form of energy."
Build Cost 100

Fire Rate Slow
Damage 12-18
Range Short


II : Geode Battery
Description
About "Bursts of a rare new energy are created, stored and released from the battery."
Build Cost 170

Fire Rate Slow
Damage 24-35
Range Short


III : Gibeon Battery
Description
About ""
Build Cost 230

Fire Rate Average
Damage 45-72
Range Average

Spoken Quotes
"Like a shooting star."
"A diamond in the rough."
"Charging to three-hundred... CLEAR!"
""
""
""


M.E.T.E.O.R.
[+] SPOILER
IV : M.E.T.E.O.R. (Magic Experiment: Theoretical Energy Output Relay)
Description Three chunks of meteor placed on a pyramidal structure, with three metal coils at respective corner points. A tube runs up the middle that glows white with a weather vane of sorts pokes out of the top, sending magic out in a tesla style spark.
About "Unable to grasp magic themselves, the dwarves can still find a way to use it in other forms. This is the next step forward in dwarven warfare."
Symbol A glowing pink star
Build Cost 300

Fire Rate Slow
Damage 25-40
Range Short



Slow Down

Written Description
Symbol
Cost Per Upgrade

Upgrade Quote ""
Written Quote ''

Explanation Slow down aura projected around tower

Time Warp

Written Description
Symbol
Cost Per Upgrade

Upgrade Quote ""
Written Quote ''

Explanation Teleport enemies backwards in time

Build Quotes
"Total protonic reversal!"
"We reverse the polarity of the neutron flow"
"Dilithium Chamber at maximum efficiency!"
"Wibbly wobbly timey wimey!"
""
""


Saurian Pyromancer congtest version
[+] SPOILER
Saurian Pyromancers

Spoken Quotes
"What the hand dare seize the fire?"



The Future


Levels

Level One
[+] SPOILER
Image


Level Two
[+] SPOILER
Image


Level Three
[+] SPOILER
Image



Enemies

Future enemies were even less developed, because obviously it was going to be the third part designed. I have conflicting notes in different folders as I was obviously changing things around, but here's what I do have.

Pirates - As a lot of the map was going to be water based, pirates and the like would be ruling the seas.

Jharin - This is based on a VERY old rag I once made, the name was created to name a cat like demon. So the enemies here were going to be feline like. Cats, as hunters of both birds and fish seemed the perfect choice to take on the player.

Slime - They were going to be slimes. Gross slimes in a swamp.

Dead Things - Not sure where this was going.

Bosses - Nope, didn't design any.

Heroes

Fosh - Hawcaran magic user
[+] SPOILER
SKILLS

Cosmic Rays (Active)
Exposes 1/2/3 enemies to cosmic rays that strip them of all armour or resistance. Any immunities are lost, and standard or magic armour is set to None.


HERO SPELL

Orbital Bombardment (Active)[Hero Points]
A meteor swathed in a purple cloud slams into the target, dealing ? area damage and scorching the ground for 4/5/6 seconds. Enemies that pass over the scorched path suffer 30% additional damage for 3 seconds.

Cosmic style - stars, suns, moons, etc.


QUOTES
"Orders not backed by force are only suggestions."
"Space is the final frontier."


(death) "We're only stardust."
(death) "You can't take the sky from me."

TRIVIA
* 'Fosh' is the name of a bird-like alien species in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. The only known member of the species is a force user of dubious allegiance named Veregre, whom the design of this hero is based on.


I also had brief notes for some kind of 'wood folk ninja'

Towers

No towers were adapted for anything else. As with most things, there is very little designed. There would have been:

A Hawcaran barracks featuring Parrotins - Paladin Parrots.

A Hawcaran Artillery based on a Tern's nest of stones.

Allies found in the forest would be an evolved race of Weirdwoods and tree folk. These would have again been adapted from my Song of the Fae campaign.






Random Bits


The last level of the 'Present' (the campaign that was posted and completed) would be in the same map location as the first level of both the 'Past' and the 'Future'. I specifically designed all three level maps to have the same path, just with different sections available. In Chronological order (past, present, future) they show the meteor having crashed, it sunk into the earth and buried by the snow, and finally the crater formed where Hydrakus (the Present final boss) fell into a pit and died.

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Re: Kingdom Rush: Chronicles - Patch Notes

by Flamechar33 » Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:54 am

These all look great, but it is a shame to hear that, especially with me also losing interest in Kingdom Rush and the fandom. I just hope you're doing well these days...and thanks for being here, even when almost no-one else is. I can't deny that it has been nice seeing you every so often, but I wish you luck with your life.
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Re: Kingdom Rush: Chronicles - Patch Notes

by MalikHammerfury » Wed Jan 20, 2021 6:17 pm

So nicely done ! Thank you for sharing !
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Re: Kingdom Rush: Chronicles - Patch Notes

by Big Bad Bug » Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:19 am

I didn't know that you experienced harassment on the wiki. That is a shame. The decline of the forums was unfortunately inevitable - I can't see things going any other way now that I look back in hindsight. Of course, I respect your choice to stay strictly on the forums, but, if you really wanted to have a Kingdom Rush community to stay with, joining us on Discord was always an option! Still, I relate to your decision. I still refuse to get Tiktok, for example. Anyways, onto the content:

What a massive amount of ideas. To think that this is an incomplete set of work! The bootstrap paradox is something I hadn't heard of until now, at least not in its official name even if the idea is familiar to me. I think it's so cool that it is being used here to explain the Hammer of Ages, as it makes sense for something powerful enough to free a god such as Umbra to be tied to fundamental aspects of the universe like time itself.

I think the first two stages for the serpent elite mini campaign are set up in a way to make for really satisfying chokepoints, which is something that I wish Vengeance had more of. The third stage reminds me of Into the Mountains (the second stage in the Frozen Nightmare mini-campaign in Vengeance) in that there is the possibility of making chokepoints there, but it is difficult to do so because of the way the level is structured. What a clever way to make the final stage look tough without even having a wave composition or even showing the enemies that will spawn there just yet! Speaking of those enemies, I like them all, particularly the Gorgon since it adds a new way of countering barracks that hasn't really been done before.

Customization is something that is (understandably) lacking in the series, so the option to use additional stars to unlock skins for towers and units is great. There are no downsides to it and it adds another layer of reward for completing the Heroic and Iron challenges, which I really like since part of my enjoyment in playing video games it feeling some semblance of productivity when I do things. Having any additional things to unlock and spend my rewards on is all the more enjoyable as a result.

The stages in The Past have some pretty tough, intimidating maps! Based on the enemies I imagine it would be somewhat chaotic to try to micro everything there. Like Pandaemonium, I wonder if players would find the stages too hard at release only to get used to the difficulty and come to like those stages more than the rest, which is what happened with me in the likes of Pandaemonium, Castle Blackburn, and Fungal Forest.

This is great stuff. It's pretty nostalgic to be reading fanfiction content and typing up about it on the forums. This was a thoroughly-enjoyable return to form for me. Thank you for sharing it, Razor. I hope you're doing well.
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